Editorial: Vote yes for Wyoming millage

There is no good time to ask for a tax increase. This is an especially bad moment. Ordinary folks have seen their home values plummet, struggled to pay bills, even been laid off. Those fortunate enough to have jobs are paying more for their health insurance and pensions, and likely seeing less in their paychecks.

Any city or school district that wants people to reach deeper into their pockets will have to demonstrate a clear need, and display a recognition of these tough realities by having already sacrificed.

The City of Wyoming meets that test. For that reason, we recommend a YES vote for the city’s tax increase request on the May 4 ballot.

Voters are being asked to approve a five-year, 1.25-mill property tax hike. For the owner of a home with a market value of $100,000 and a taxable value of half that, the cost would be an additional $62.50 a year. The money would be used exclusively for police and fire services, though the new tax would free up money in the general fund for other purposes.

The city’s budget has been ravaged by a number of problems: a slide in property tax revenue because of dropping home values; a steady decline in money from the state; and the closure of the General Motors plant, previously the city’s biggest taxpayer.

The result has been cuts to the city work force. This year alone, the city eliminated 35 positions from its budget. Wyoming now has 365 employees, down from a high of 465 in better times. Police officers and firefighters— who represent the core of the city’s mission and the bulk of its budget — have not escaped the cuts.

The millage increase, if approved, would allow Wyoming to continue current levels of staffing and service. It would not add new employees, or reopen closed fire stations, such as the Gezon Station on the city’s southern edge.

This is a modest, time-constrained, request. The hope is that the five-year hike would allow the economy to pick up again and the city to make other changes to get costs under control.

Some of that work has been done over the past eight years. The city started requiring greater employee contributions for health care. And it changed its pensions system for new employees. All new hires will be on a defined contribution system, rather than the antiquated defined benefit system. The resulting changes, over time, will make pension costs more controllable and predictable.

Compare existing employees to those who have been hired since these new benefit structures were put in place. For existing workers, health and pension costs represent 20 percent of payroll. For new hires, those costs are 12 percent of payroll. Right now, only 14 percent of the city’s work force is on the new benefit plan. But as staffing turns over, the changes will help right-size what had been unsustainable expenses.

Last year, Wyoming went to a four-day week for City Hall workers, expanding hours on other days and cutting salaries by 5 percent. In addition, Wyoming is aggressively pursuing promising cooperative efforts with surrounding cities. Among them are proposals to merge dispatch authorities and fire departments with Grand Rapids.

More work needs to be done. The state Legislature should help by changing laws that make local government cooperation more difficult. In addition, lawmakers should pass bills that mandate a greater cost-sharing for municipal employee health insurance.

Much of Wyoming’s millage is earmarked for specific purposes, such as sidewalk snow removal and repair, parks and recreation, yard waste removal and capital improvements. Residents will have a chance in November to decide if some of that money should be freed up for other spending.

If the May 4 millage fails, Wyoming will see more attrition of employees.

There will be fewer full-time firefighters, who are first responders in medical emergencies. The police force will diminish, meaning nuisance calls such as barking dogs and fireworks complaints, as well as fender-benders where no one is injured, will have to be handled at the police station rather than on location.

Wyoming, like most cities, didn’t create its current problems. But it has taken steps to minimize them. That work merits trust from voters, and a yes vote on May 4.

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